Roscoe escapee back in custody

ROSCOE – A Roscoe man is in custody after slipping away from police in the Mon Valley during a drug investigation last month at his residence.

Ramsey Hyslop, 46, of 913 Arthur Ave., turned himself in Friday to North Huntingdon police to face charges brought by Roscoe, Elco, Stockdale and Allenport regional police after he managed to escape while handcuffed from the back seat of a police cruiser Feb. 12, a court official confirmed Monday.

Police had gone to Hyslop’s residence about 7:45 p.m. that day to take him into custody because he was wanted by the Washington County adult probation office.

They found him in the living room and placed him into a police cruiser while they went back inside to investigate their discovery of a syringe and a stamp bag of heroin on a living room end table, court records state.

Police said his girlfriend, Cheryl Bartus, 68, of the same address, gave them permission to search the residence, and police said the search turned up another 143 stamp bags of heroin and two dozen Oxycontin pills.

Hyslop, who was handcuffed with his hands behind his back, managed to maneuver his hands to his front and crawl through a partitioned window in the police car to escape.

He was arraigned Friday afternoon on charges of possession of heroin with intent to deliver, drug possession, possession of drug paraphernalia, flight to avoid apprehension and escape, court records show.

District Judge Larry Hopkins remanded him to Washington County Jail on $250,000 bond.

Scott Beveridge is a North Charleroi native who has lived most of his life in nearby Rostraver Township. He is a general assignments reporter focusing on investigative journalism and writing stories about the mid-Mon Valley. He has a bachelor's degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a master's from Duquesne University. Scott spent three weeks in Vietnam in 2004 as a foreign correspondent under an International Center for Journalists fellowship.